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Thursday, July 28, 2011

My Finch Collection

With the countdown to my trip to Paris, I have stopped projects around the house. I thought I would take the next few days showing you collections from around my home. First up is my collection of finches in my aviary in my studio.

I have four pair of different breeds of finch in my aviary. Here are a few snap shots...........

Above is Seedo. She is the female in the pair I call, Tux and Seedo. I thought their markings looked like they were wearing a tuxedo.

In the image above are Tux and Lupe. Lupe is the female in a pair I called Fruit and Lupe. They are colorful Gouldian finch from Australia, so I name them after the cereal Fruit Loops.

This is Blue. He is the male part of the pair of Blue and Belle. Obviously....their color is what dictated my name. They are the sweetest, most gentle of all the birds in the aviary.

In the foreground of the above image is a stressed out Flame. He is the male part of the team of Flame and Fannie. Fannie is in the images to the right. They both have super bright orange markings on their backsides, thus Flame Fannie. Flame currently doesn't have any feathers on his head from breeding stress. Sometimes birds in captivity become confused about the timing of breeding. When they cannot find the correct materials to build a nest, they will pick each other for bedding. I am at the point of removing him to a hospital cage to get him away from Fannie. She is relentless. (Amazing what women will do to fix up their house nests.)

Above is Fruit and Lupe along with Belle. Notice that Belle doesn't have the red spot like Blue in the previous images. That is how I tell them apart. Fruit is starting his molting process. You can see some of the evidence on his face.

Whenever I take images of my birds, they fly all around the aviary and make it difficult. But not Tux and Seedo. They stare me down as if to say, "You don't frighten me with that big camera!" Tux is definitely the boss in the aviary. He is the first to take baths, first to eat. He even hogs all the nesting boxes when I first put them in for breeding season. Nobody messes with Tux. Tough guy.

Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into my collection of finch. I love them. The constant chirping, tweeting, fluttering wings and cracking on seeds keeps me company while I work in my studio. They sure do make a mess, but I'm keeping them around.